According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, total retail sales of consumer goods from January to February 2026 increased by 2.8% year-on-year, with the growth rate rebounding by 1.9 percentage points compared to December of the previous year. By consumption type, retail sales of goods reached 7.5815 trillion yuan, up 2.7% year-on-year, an increase of 2.0 percentage points over the full-year growth rate of the prior year. Catering revenue amounted to 1.0264 trillion yuan, rising 4.8% year-on-year, with growth accelerating by 2.6 percentage points compared to the full-year figure.

Consumption serves as the primary engine driving economic growth, a crucial support for the smooth circulation of the national economy, and a significant source of potential for China's economic development. This year, the extended Spring Festival holiday has had a noticeable impact, policies promoting the replacement of old consumer goods have continued to take effect, and cultural tourism, leisure, and entertainment markets have been particularly active. Service consumption has grown rapidly, contributing to a clear rebound in market sales. Notably, new forms of consumption have shown positive development. In the first two months of the year, online retail sales of goods and services increased by 9.2% year-on-year, significantly outpacing the growth of total retail sales of consumer goods. Online retail sales of goods alone rose by 10.3%, exceeding the growth rate of total goods retail sales and further strengthening their role in driving consumption. Online service consumption also continued to gain momentum, with online service retail sales growing 7.3% year-on-year from January to February, also faster than the growth of overall service retail sales. Additionally, green consumption, health-related consumption, and first-release economy initiatives have increasingly contributed to boosting consumption. Overall, market sales in the January–February period displayed positive changes and enhanced growth momentum, resulting from the combined effects of consumption stimulus policies, consumption upgrading, and the emergence of new consumption drivers.

Comprehensively expanding domestic demand, with a focus on boosting consumption, remains a top priority. In recent years, among the "troika" driving China's economy, the role and significance of consumption have become more prominent, making it the primary force behind economic growth. In particular, the implementation of special campaigns to stimulate consumption, along with expanded efforts to promote the replacement of old consumer goods, has led to a consumption market characterized by expanding scale, optimized structure, and new growth drivers. In 2025, China's consumer market continued to grow steadily, with total retail sales of consumer goods exceeding 50 trillion yuan for the first time. Consumption contributed 52% to economic growth. Since the beginning of 2026, new rounds of government subsidy funds have been allocated, and a series of concrete measures to spur consumption have been rolled out, continuously igniting public enthusiasm for spending. While the fundamental conditions and long-term positive trend of China's economy remain unchanged, economic development still faces multiple challenges and structural contradictions. Insufficient domestic demand, particularly weak consumption, remains a prominent issue in the current economic landscape. At present, China's household consumption rate stands at around 40%, still 10 to 30 percentage points lower than that of developed countries, with service consumption accounting for a particularly low proportion. Further stimulating consumption will not only stabilize current economic operations but also expand the space for consumption growth, better leveraging consumption's foundational role in economic development.

Boosting consumption requires both releasing existing potential and tapping into new, unlimited growth opportunities. How can consumption be further energized? This year's government work arrangements have adopted precise and multi-pronged strategies, centered on using four approaches—"addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division"—to address three key challenges: enabling consumption, encouraging willingness to consume, and fostering confidence in spending. For instance, under the "addition" approach, the report for the first time proposes "implementing a plan to increase urban and rural residents' incomes," introducing measures to raise incomes for low-income groups, increase residents' property income, and improve salary and social security systems, aiming to fundamentally enhance consumption capacity by putting more money in people's pockets. Under the "subtraction" approach, efforts will be intensified to strengthen safeguards in healthcare, elderly care, and child-rearing, raise medical insurance subsidy standards, and develop inclusive childcare services, all aimed at reducing residents' worries and encouraging them to spend with confidence. Under the "multiplication" approach, a newly established 100 billion yuan special fund for fiscal and financial coordination to boost domestic demand will enhance consumers' sense of benefit. Under the "division" approach, further efforts will be made to remove restrictive consumption measures and smooth consumption circulation. As these policy measures are implemented, China's consumption market is expected to usher in new growth points and development opportunities.

Stimulating consumption is not only a crucial tool for expanding domestic demand and stabilizing growth in the short term but also a significant measure for transforming the development model in the medium to long term. In recent years, consumption has become increasingly prominent among the "troika" driving China's economy, establishing itself as the main engine of economic growth. Currently, China's advantages of a super-large consumer market remain intact, and the supportive conditions and fundamental trends for consumption growth remain favorable. As China embarks on a new journey toward its second centenary goal, placing greater emphasis on boosting consumption, fully implementing the decisions and arrangements of the Central Economic Work Conference and this year's government work report, strengthening coordination, improving working mechanisms, and forming a collective force to continuously address consumption bottlenecks and activate domestic demand potential will ensure that consumption, as a key driver, runs more steadily and farther, injecting robust momentum into building a strong domestic market and advancing high-quality economic development.